PLEASE HELP ASAP!!! Electrical problem

[cameron92]

Overheating Alternator eating Protege :/

I have a 2003 Protege 5, its been a great car up to this point. I was getting gas at a gas station and after I went into pay, the car wouldnt start so I had to boost it and drive it home, While I was driving, the radio shut off, my headlights dimmed and my abs and battery light came on.

I did a test at home, and found the alternator was only putting out 9 volts. So I went and bought a new alternator and put it in and everything was fine, It was putting out around 14.4 volts at idle. I drove it for a good 3 hours and everything was fine except the battery light would sometimes flash on and off only for 5 min intervals. The next day I was on my way home from work and every electronic in my car shut off the, abs, battery light went on and the car would not shift out of 3rd gear even with the autostick. So I just got it home and its now sitting in my driveway and Im ready to set it on fire, Please help!!!

 

[MazdaSpeeder]

Have your battery tested. Check fuses. Check the terminals on the cables closely for corrosion.

 

[StealthWyvern]

Have your battery tested. Check fuses. Check the terminals on the cables closely for corrosion.

or just make sure your cables have a good connection. I had a simalar issue and it turned out my ground wasnt tight and the end needs to be replaced. I had a shop test the battery and they said the batter was toast (they didnt notice the loose cable), took it to autozone to test the battery again and the alt and they didnt even notice the loost cable. I noticed it while making sure i had a good connection while hooking up jumper cables finally. Had them retest everything and all is good.

 

[Pmpkinhead]

I had the same problem in 1983, humidity caused some problems and I sprayed WD-40 on the wires under the hood and the problem went away. If humidity isn't an issue, the battery and a loose connection is likely. Did you drive thru a deep puddle prior to getting gas?

PS: Thanks for joining, what took so long lol

 

[destineal]

+1 for the battery cable connections. Had the very same prob.

 

[cameron92]

Thanks guys, Ill definitely check all my connections, now that I think about it I only hand tightened the ground wire on my alternator, so Im going to make sure thats tightened down good tomorrow. I did wash my engine bay a few days prior to this happening, didn't even think about that.. hopefully I didn't mess anything up doing that :S I covered up my fuse box battery and coils with plastic bags.

 

[tweety2300]

Never power or pressure or even hose wash it use a wet rag

 

[cameron92]

I bought a new battery, checked all connections and I tested when it was running and its only getting 11.6 volts. So I ordered another remanufactured alternator in hopes that this one was just a lemon. I will hopefully have it tonight so I can put it in, its been a week without my car

 

[StreetLimitz89]

had this problem very recently, we encountered a similar issue here at work ( Hickory Mitsubishi/Mazda ) and it turned out the original alternator overcharged, voltage spiked and burnt up the harness luckily the harness is fairly inexpensive. u may not see any visible issues with the harness, there MAY be a bad wire still in the coating .

 

[cameron92]

had this problem very recently, we encountered a similar issue here at work ( Hickory Mitsubishi/Mazda ) and it turned out the original alternator overcharged, voltage spiked and burnt up the harness luckily the harness is fairly inexpensive. u may not see any visible issues with the harness, there MAY be a bad wire still in the coating .

How did you test to see if it was the harness? or did you just start throwing parts at it lol because thats what it feels like im doing lol.

 

[cameron92]

Took it to a parts source down the road and both alternators failed the bench test.

 

[StreetLimitz89]

How did you test to see if it was the harness? or did you just start throwing parts at it lol because thats what it feels like im doing lol.

we traced the wiring to the relay/fuse box and found that there was a burnt wire on the connector in the box. we didnt throw parts at it :ROFL:

 

[cameron92]

Well I got the new alternator put it in and everything was running good. Then after about 30 mins of driving, It went out on me again and the battery light came on. I made it home, but when I got home, my coolant was literally boiling.. I checked my temp gauge and it was way overheated, I didnt even realize as I was more worried about my car dying on me and not making it home. So now ive got this problem added on to my car eating alternators.. Im so lost. And my pocket is quickly draining.

 

[tweety2300]

You have a bad short somewhere or a bad ground to kill that many alternators.

The overheating is probly a separate issue but you may have warped the head or blew the head gasket runing it hot

 

[StreetLimitz89]

overheating? is the cooling fans working? is your thermostat stuck closed? how bad did it over heat?

 

[cameron92]

So I looked at it in the.light today after work and the belt for the alternator is gone.. so that explains the alternator problem but does the water pump run off the same belt as the alternator?

 

[tweety2300]

Yes

 

[Jasonjames]

I had a situation with a Camry where one battery terminal came loose. When it wasn't making contact, the car was basically running on the alternator alone, which caused some wierd symptoms ie battery charge light lit up, when i blew the horn the engine snuffed.

As already said, check all battery and alternator connections.

JJ